Bullish Page eyes home comforts as Cobblers target FA Cup run

James Heneghan

Rob Page is hoping for a home tie in tonight’s FA Cup second round draw, but even if that’s not the case, the Cobblers boss has backed his side to prevail irrespective of the opposition.

Northampton romped through to round two courtesy of Saturday’s 6-0 crushing over Harrow Borough, securing their place in tonight’s draw which will take place live on BBC 2 at 7pm.

And after League One high-flyers Scunthorpe and Bradford both crashed out over the weekend, Northampton are the fourth highest-ranked side in the hat, behind Bolton, Sheffield United and Bristol Rovers, who will need a replay to see off Crawley.

Page said: “It’d be nice to get a home draw but we’ve shown this season in League One that whoever we’re up against we’ll give a good account of ourselves.

“We’re the second highest scorers in the division so we’ve proven that we’re capable of scoring goals at that level.

“Whoever we come up against, we’ll have a go and fingers crossed it’s a home tie.”

The only negative to come out of Saturday’s victory was the injury sustained by Jak McCourt, who was forced off barely 90 seconds into the second-half with what appeared to be a neck problem.

“We’re having a look at him,” confirmed Page afterwards. “We don’t know the extent of the damage so I wouldn’t want to guess as to what the problem is.

“It’s something with the bottom part of his neck and the top of his back. We’ll have a look at it and as soon as we’ve got any news we’ll update everyone.”

That aside, Saturday’s visit of Harrow caused few problems for the Cobblers who produced a professional performance to ease through and avoid a potential banana skin.

JJ Hooper eludes two Harrow defenders to score Town's sixth and his first goal for the club

Paul Anderson got the ball rolling with an early screamer before Marc Richards’ double, Matty Taylor’s free-kick and John-Joe O’Toole’s header made it five.

And there was still time left for JJ Hooper to grab his first Cobblers goal, something which pleased his manager who felt it was thoroughly deserved.

“It’s important for him,” said Page. “He did everything but score before the goal - he hit the post, he hit the bar, he hit the goalkeeper.

“So I’m really pleased for him. It wasn’t the prettiest of goals but it didn’t matter how he scored and he’s now off the mark.

“When you’ve got his attributes with his strength and pace, the goals will come and hopefully that’s the start of a few goals for JJ now.”